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Wangchuk blames Shah for September 24 Leh violence, demands resignation
Wangchuk claimed that since the day Amit Shah became the Union home minister of India in 2019, the nation was in ruins
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Squarely blaming Union home minister Amit Shah for last year’s Leh violence on September 24 that left four people including a retired soldier dead and over 80 injured, climate activist and leader of the Leh Apex Body (LAB), Sonam Wangchuk, on Thursday, demanded Shah’s resignation.
Addressing a gathering at NDS Stadium in Leh, where LAB and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) held a martyrs rally in memory of four men killed in police firing on this day last year, Wangchuk said, “If Congress MP Rahul Gandhi can demand resignation of Shah over use of pellet guns and lathicharge on peacefully protesting students at Jantar Mantar then what should we demand for using AK 47 on peaceful Ladakhis, who were shot on their chests and heads and killed brutally. So, should Shah continue (in office). Therefore, I say today that the Shah must resign and take responsibility for these deaths.”
Wangchuk claimed that since the day Amit Shah became the Union home minister of India in 2019, the nation was in ruins. “From 2014 to 2019, everything was good in the country. Since the day Amit Shah became home minister, riots have been happening everywhere. He must resign,” Wangchuk said.
He also claimed that the people of Ladakh chose India over China and advised the helmsmen to do politics of love and humanity.
“There is no place for politics of intimidation in the country…do politics of love and humanity. I know after this speech, I may be subjected to intimidation but I call a spade a spade. I have been jailed in the past and I am ready for my encounter. I wish it because experts tell me that I may face an encounter. So let it happen,” he said.
Wangchuk recalled that in writing the BJP had agreed upon a sixth schedule in 2020.
“It was number one agenda in their election manifesto. They first promised it but then backtracked in one year. When people of Ladakh tried to remind them about the sixth schedule, they were taken to police stations and FIRs lodged against them. And, all this happened from Delhi on the directions of Amit Shah,” he asserted.
He also recalled how Shah allegedly bluntly told the leaders from Ladakh at a meeting that the sixth schedule will not be given at any cost. “He (Shah) had told it on the face of the leaders that even if the PM asked him in writing to confer sixth schedule to Ladakh, he won’t do it,” said Wangchuk.
“So, the root cause of the problem is the tendency to make promises and then backtrack from those promises. Had the BJP fulfilled the promise in 2021 or 2022, why would we have gone on strikes and protests in subsequent years,” he asked.
“I am neither a BJP loyalist nor a Congress loyalist. Shah forced the bureaucracy to do all wrong things and unleash atrocities on the people of Ladakh,” he said.
The climate activist also alleged that the Ladakh administration headed by the LG has coerced people of Ladakh for abstaining themselves from Thursday’s martyrs day programme
Earlier, he paid tributes to the martyrs and recalled how police without any trigger had fired upon indiscriminately, that too, without any firing orders on peacefully protesting people.
“Under a well knit conspiracy, indiscriminate bullets from automatic AK 47 assault rifles were fired upon armless Gen Zs who were peacefully protesting for their rights on this day last year,” he said.
He said that three magistrates, on duty, had refused to issue firing orders that day but still fire was opened. Expressing regrets over inordinate delay over making findings of a judicial commission public, Wangchuk appealed to the retired judges of the high court and supreme court to make a people’s tribunal and give their judgment if findings of the judicial commission doesn’t come out in public domain.
On Wednesday, Ladakh lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena approved the withdrawal of criminal cases against 20 people, who were booked in connection with the violence.
Meanwhile, Ladakh administration has placed on record the factual sequence of events regarding the public gatherings organised on September 23 and 24, 2026.
This statement is issued to clarify the actual ground situation. The administration said that during the September 24 march, the leaders in their addresses, accused the Ladakh police of installing barricades, specifically to stop the general public from attending the prayer meet. The Ladakh police categorically refutes these allegations. It is hereby clarified that the police did not stop any individual from proceeding to the venue or attending the event.
